


I and Love and You

by punkemon



Category: NCT (Band), NCT U - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Grim Reapers, M/M, Some Humor, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-02 19:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10225199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkemon/pseuds/punkemon
Summary: Taeyong's immortal life was miserable, up until Ten showed up and brought color and meaning to his world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is a grim reaper ! au with taeten and i hope you guys enjoy this one. i don't know how many parts this is going to have but hopefully it's not very long. also this is kind of of based from goblin (like some facts about grim reapers)

_Kim Dabin_

_Age: 7_

_Cause of Death: Car Accident_

_Time of Death: 4:04 p.m_

Taeyong sighed, reading yet another name card. He glanced down at his watch on his left wrist; _2:32 p.m_. He still had plenty of time until he had to be at the playground the death was going to take place.

It was times like these that Taeyong utterly despised his job - and _yes_ being a grim reaper was considered a job, one that payed very well at that. The grim reaper hated having to escort the spirits of young children to the other side, they were so young and full of life, so many things out there for them to discover.

However, life didn’t always work that way. Fate really did turn plans upon their heads.

He sighed, as he tried to shake the thoughts out of his head and quickly put the card inside a white envelope, then placing it inside the inner pocket of his black suit. Glancing around he took notice of all the people passing by, some walking slow and others rushing to get somewhere.

That was always a habit of his; staring at people walking the streets. Kind of creepy, yes, but he was curious. What could their lives possibly be like? What did fate have in store for them? He all but wished it was nothing but happiness.

Another sigh left his lips and he decided that it was time he began walking, not wanting to rush to the playground, Taeyong hated being late. There had never been a time when he was late in his life, even in his human years he was always punctual.

After walking for about a few minutes, he finally arrived at his destination. The playground was bustling with life, parents sitting on the benches either conversing with other parents or smiling at their kids. _How sad, so many people had to witness this young girl’s death._

His large brown eyes scanned over the area, focusing mainly on the kids. If he wasn't wearing his hat that hid him from human eyes, people would think he was a creep of some sort.

“Dabin!” a woman’s voice rang through his ears.

Upon listening to the name, his head turned towards the direction of the woman’s voice. On the other side of the playground was a woman, probably in her early 30s, sitting on a bench. _Dabin’s mother_ , he thought.

A little girl wearing a baby pink shirt and a pair of light blue jeans, turned her head at the mention of her name. Her long black hair swayed as she turned her head to look at her mother.

“Dabin, sweetie, it’s time to go.” her mother said, getting up and collecting her stuff from the bench.

“Mom, five more minutes.” the young girl huffed, her chubby cheeks puffing out even more. “Five more minutes!” she pouted.

“Fine.” her mother sighed in defeat and went back to her seat. “But we’re leaving after that, okay?”

“Mhm.” the little girl nodded in agreement and she resumed to playing with some other kids with a ball.

However, when she threw the ball it flew too high up and it crossed the fence surrounding the playground. Taeyong, turned his head as he watched the ball fly up and all the way onto the street.

The little girl immediately rushed through the entrance and onto the sidewalk, stopping to check both sides of the road before crossing the street, to retrieve the ball. After successfully retrieving the ball, she repeated the same actions before crossing the street.

_At least, she was being careful._

However, the driver of the car was not. The playground was located at a crossroad, so there were a lot of cars. _How inconvenient._

A black SUV emerge from the road of the left side of the playground, and since he was driving at a very high speed and took a sharp turn, he lost control of the vehicle.

The young looking reaper watched the scene unfold in front of his eyes; to him it seemed as if it was happening in slow motion. It was always like that whenever he witnessed someone’s death, all in slow motion.

So there he stood idly, leaning against the fence as he watched the way the large car drove onto the sidewalk and towards the little girl. From the other side of the playground, he could hear the frantic cries of Dabin’s mother.

Every detail of the incident was engraved into his memory; the oncoming car, the little girl’s head hitting the windshield in such force that it was impossible for her young body to survive and of course the wailing of the mother.

It was like that with every death, every single detail was now a part of his memory, so vividly.

He tried to avert his gaze from the scene of the accident but it felt as if his eyes were glued there. Only when he felt a tug at the end of his suit and a pair of small arms hugging around his leg, was he able to look away and down to the figure of the girl, or more like her spirit.

“Did I die?”

“Yes.” Taeyong said with a sad smile, there was no reason in lying, it was no use.

Tears welled up in Dabin’s eyes upon hearing Taeyong’s words. She clutched on Taeyong’s thigh as she sobbed at the sight of her mother clutching her lifeless body.

“Will mommy be okay?” He didn’t really know how to reply to that because quite frankly, no she wouldn’t be okay, she would be inconsolable.

“I don’t know,” he replied, looking down at her small form “but I hope she will get happier with time.” he said truthfully, in an attempt to somewhat comfort the young girl.

They both watched silently as an ambulance pulled up and the paramedics checked the girl’s body. After concluding to the fact that she had already passed away, they proceeded to put her body on the stretcher, then covering it with a white sheet.

The grim reaper squatted down to eye level with the girl and took her hand in his. “I think it’s time for us to go.” he said in a sweet voice.

The girl nodded slowly in response, it seemed as if she was quite accepting of the fact that she had died, unlike most people who refused to cross the other side.

The grim reaper gave her another smile, and lead her to the place where he bid the souls farewell as he watched them cross into the other side.

 

* * *

 

 Taeyong sighed as he washed the cup of tea he had just given to Dabin’s soul, and placed it among the other teacups on the manly shelves. Each soul had their own unique cup.

While escorting the souls, it was required that the souls had to drink tea. However, it was no ordinary tea. It was called the Tea of Oblivion. That tea was given to the souls of the deceased, so as to forget all the events of their life, in order to go peacefully. It also prevented people from remembering their past life after they were reborn.

Things were different for grim reapers, though.

Grim reapers were also deceased souls, they were once human too. They were humans who had committed sins in their life, but not just any sins - everyone sins, but there is one sin more reprehensible than the others.

_The act of killing oneself._

That sin could not be forgiven, thus you had to become a grim reaper and on top of that your memories would not be erased, in order to be reminded of what you had done.

The life of a grim reaper was long and hard to say the least. No matter how long it was though, it reached its end too. It wasn’t considered a death though, it was more like retirement and Taeyong had been anticipating for that moment for years now.

He still had a long way though. After taking one final look around, he padded over to the entrance of his “tea shop” and stepping out to the warm April sun. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, making the streets of Seoul look romantic.

The “tea shop” was located in a more secluded area of Seoul, where not so many people passed by, so he was able to take off his hat with ease; not caring if anyone suddenly saw a man appear out of thin air.

He began walking, his feet falling into a leisured pace. Taeyong couldn’t wait to get home and be welcomed by the comfort and silence of his apartment.

Having walked sometime, he reached the bus stop and sat down while he waited for his bus to arrive. _How human of me_ , he thought to himself. Taeyong had to do something to fit in anyway, so he did all sorts of human activities and he was quite fond of them.

“The bus should be here any minute.” he lowly mumbled to himself and got up.

His bus arrived and it was unfortunately packed. Taeyong cursed under his breath and took off his jacket and pulled out his card and scanned it. He held on to the nearest handle to steady himself as the bus drove off to the next stop.

While he was staring out the window, he couldn’t help but overhear the hushed conversation two teenage girls were having, sitting in the seats in front of him.

“Oh my god,” one of the girls gushed and hid her face behind her hand, “he’s so handsome.” she finished, turning to her friend who only nodded in response, gawking at Taeyong and not being discreet about it.

“He looks like he came straight out of a webtoon.” the second girl added, scanning him from head to toe.

Taeyong tried to bite back a smirk at the girls’ reaction. He knew he was good looking but he wasn’t the one to brag about it.

The bus arrived at his stop and he couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at the girls’ disappointment, when they saw him nearing the exit. Just a few more minutes and he could finally be at the comfort of his apartment.

His apartment was located at a somewhat nice area of Seoul, it wasn’t something too fancy though. He had to invest his money somehow.

Even though he had to deal with only one death today, for some reason he felt very exhausted. On top of that, the elevator had to be out of order, and now here he was trudging up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor. _Peachy._

After successfully having climbed up for what seemed around a hundred steps - _yes, he counted_ \- he finally reached the door to his apartment, but at that moment to him it really seemed like a door to heaven.

“Oh, hello there dear.” his next door neighbor said emerging from her apartment, holding a black trash bag. She was a 60-year old lady named Sookmyung, who lived alone, but her kids visited her every weekend.

“You got off work early.” she pointed out.

“Ah, yes.”

“Mhm, rest well!” she said joyfully and walked past him.

Taeyong then quickly unlocked his door and got in, locking it once again behind him since there was no way he was coming out again.

* * *

 

 

“Dude,” Johnny’s voice boomed through Ten’s bedroom. “you’re gonna be late for work!” he said, opening the blinds and letting the sunlight seep through the window.

However, only some incoherent mumbling came out of the younger boy’s lips.

Johnny gritted his teeth and stomped towards his bed and roughly smacking Ten’s bottom.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Ten yelled, fully awake now.

“What, I thought you were into that shit.”

“Not this early in the morning.” the younger glared at his best friend’s taller frame, and made his way into the bathroom, to take a quick shower.

Ten was Thai but he had traveled all the way from Thailand to South Korea to pursue his dream in dancing, which so far has been going pretty great.

Just after a few months of being in South Korea, he befriended this guy from his dance class named Youngho but they called him Johnny, who was from the U.S.

They instantly clicked and have been glued to the hip ever since, Johnny was very helpful of him, welcoming him into the new country and was very accepting.

Ten let out a sigh of relief as the cool water hit his skin and he began washing his body. Once he was done he turned the shower off and stepped out of it, quickly wrapping a towel around his toned torso.

He stepped into his room and started rummaging trough his drawer and found a pair of black boxers. After drying himself up he immediately put them on. He then stood in front of his open closet and started planning today’s outfit. Ten loves clothes and always made sure his outfits looked good, even on lazy days.

Not giving it much thought today, considering the fact that he was running a tad late today, he decided on something more casual and opted for a simple pair of black skinny jeans.

He then took a white t-shirt with tiny cacti off one of the hangers, and flung it onto his bed and the proceeded to get dressed for the day.

Despite of the fact that he had to wear a uniform at his work, he still wanted to look good on his there.

Stepping out of his bedroom, he walked down the hallway and made his way to the kitchen, where Johnny was serving some egg rolls on two plates. There were also a lot of side dishes placed on the counter and they both dug in without saying a word, chewing on their food silently.

“I’m working a couple of hours extra today, so I’m probably not going to be on time for dinner tonight.” he informed the taller boy, and got up from the kitchen stool and put the dirty dish in the sink, rinsing it with a little bit of water.

“Mm, okay.”

“I’m heading off now,” Ten said as he grabbed his backpack and put a white cap on. “Bye!” he waved at his friend enthusiastically and left the house.

Thankfully, his workplace was only a twenty minute walk away from home so he thought it was no use to take any public transportation. Today, he made it there a little quicker since he was in a rush, arriving just in time.

The bell on top of the door jingled as Ten pushed it. “Sorry, I’m late.” he said with an apologetic smile.

“No worries.” his coworker reassured him, flashing him a smile. She loved Ten, but then again, how could you not love Ten? He was always so bubbly, bright and full of life, he even made the grumpiest person open up and relax.

The young boy then disappeared into the dressing room, and quickly changed shirts, getting ready to start working.

He loved his job the most - right after dancing of course - and he was great at it, his easy going personality always made the customers feel at ease. The shop was a ice cream parlor slash pasty shop slash coffee shop; basically a little bit of everything.

It was Saturday morning, so it was expected that it was going to be very busy today, they even had five customers this early in the morning.

Work slowed down around noon, people were heading back home since it was lunchtime.

 _Thirty more minutes till I go on break_ , Ten thought.

He was mindlessly scrolling through his Instagram feed, when the jingling of the door caught his attention.

_And boy, was he glad it did._

His eyes fell on the customer and it felt as if he was in a trance. Eyes followed the young boy as he sat at a table next to the window. He was about just above medium tall, with a lean body. His hair was a dark brown and it laid messily on top of his head, his long fringe reaching just above his eyes. Ten felt the need to run his hands through it, but that would be inappropriate.

His eyes, were big and a deep rich brown color; Ten could feel as he could get lost in them. The stranger’s eyes then lowered down and skimmed through the menu.

His rosy lips pursed lightly, as he was probably thinking what to order.

The young boy’s face had sharp angles, with sharp cheekbones and a well defined jaw, which enhanced his ethereal beauty.

The boy was clad in a simple casual outfit: a simple white t-shirt that seemed to be one or two sizes too big and black skinny jeans. Despite the simple outfit, he still managed to look effortlessly good.

Ten’s coworker took notice of the new customer and was about to go get his order when she was stopped by Ten.

“I’ll go get it.” he said and immediately made his way over to the table the customer was sitting.

For some odd reason, Ten’s palms started sweating, his heart was beating fast against his rib cage and felt this burning feeling in his chest.

The only time he had ever been this nervous in his life is when he got on a plane for the first time and now the presence of this certain customer made him weak to the knees.

As Ten approached the table, he didn’t know that from this point onwards, that young boy would mean so much to him later on. He approached him with a nervous smile and greeted the customer.

“Hello,” he said timidly “are you ready to order?”

Taeyong lifted his eyes and his gaze locked with the waiter’s.

It was a young boy with big expressive eyes and a radiant smile, he did seem a little nervous though.

“Uh,” Taeyong began his sentence, suddenly choking on his words. He hadn’t reacted this way since he was human, that one time he met _him_.

He felt even more nervous under the waiter’s expectant gaze. “A sundae.” he uttered, trying hard not to stare at the boy.

Ten quickly typed in his order. “Anything else?”

“Uh, n-no.” Taeyong said with a slight stutter and watched as the waiter left his table. He didn’t know why, but he felt a little sad, he wished he had stayed a little longer and talked to him.

The feeling these two boys experienced was indescribable, although Taeyong had felt it before once. For Ten it was different, it was so new to him it scared him, but he didn’t wish for it to go away. They both thought something must’ve been wrong with them because it was impossible for a stranger to make you feel this way.

Or maybe not?


	2. Chapter 2

Ten couldn't shake the image of the young beautiful boy out of his head for the rest of the day.

It was almost 9 p.m and his shift was over for the night. As he was walking mindlessly down the sidewalk, a tiny smile crept up his lips when he thought of the cute customer and his cheeks were now tinted a light pink.

He didn't want to get his hopes up but desperately wished to see him again and maybe, just maybe, next time he would muster up the courage and spark up a conversation with the stranger.

Normally that wasn't very hard for Ten, he never ran out of things to say and conversations always flowed easily and wasn't afraid to start a conversation. Not that he randomly talked to strangers, but if he was given the chance to talk to someone then he would take it.

He finally reached his apartment complex and made his way up to his shared apartment with Johnny. After unlocking the door, he took his shoes of then placed them on the empty sit on the top shelf of the shoe rack.

Johnny heard the noise and Ten's quiet footsteps and his head peaked through the sofa.

"Hey there, whatcha smiling about?" he asked noticing the gleeful expression on his friend's face.

"Oh nothing in particular, I'm just glad my shifts over." he partially lied. He was indeed glad that he got to go home but that was not the reason he was smiling about.

Johnny squinted his eyes in suspicion, his gaze following his friend as he watched him plop down on his legs.

"Ow, what the fuck?"

"Hey, maybe if you weren't sprawled out on the sofa there would be enough room for me to sit." Ten said, pushing Johnny's feet off.

"It's not my fault I'm tall." Johnny replied with a fake offended tone and Ten only scoffed in response.

The pair fell into a comfortable silence as they watched this sitcom playing on the TV. Ten contemplated on telling Johnny about the handsome stranger but for some reason he stayed quiet. Maybe if they met again, he would tell him then, but for now he kept to himself.

After watching TV for a couple of more hours and chit chatting about their day, they both decided to go to bed for the night.

It was almost 2 a.m and Ten hadn't gotten a wink of sleep, his mind was flooding with images of the beautiful stranger. Plus, he could also blame it to his imagination running wild, making up different scenarios of them together.

They didn't even exchange words and here he was laying on his bed planning the rest of their lives together. Ten sighed and turned on his left side staring outside the big window of his room, admiring the tall lit building's of Seoul city and slowly drifting off into a much needed sleep.

* * *

 Unlike Ten, Taeyong didn't sleep at all last night. His mind was brimmed with thoughts and he really wished there was a switch to turn them off.

The only good thing that came out of this situation was that he got to see the sunrise. Sunrises were always beautiful and filled him with a sense of serenity.

Today was a very chill day, no name cards, no souls to escort. So he did what was best: sleep. It was very needed after pulling an all nighter.

* * *

 

On Sundays, Ten's shift was in the afternoon so he woke up with no rush.

After hours passed, it was time for him to head to work. Despite his anticipation, the stranger did not show up today and he wanted to laugh at his stupid self.

 _It's not like he is a regular customer, he only came here once so it's not like he would surely come again_ , he thought bitterly to himself and furiously wiped a table.

"Ten," his coworker, Soorin chuckled at the young boy, "that's enough, it's clean now."

"Oh, yeah." the boy mumbled.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking about stuff." he thought, fiddling with his fingers. Soorin didn't ask much, she respected his privacy, and Ten appreciated that.

After a few more hours he was back in the comfort of his own home and his friend's annoying pestering.

* * *

 Monday rolled in and it was yet another regular day for both of the boys; Ten waiting tables and Taeyong escorting souls.

Ten was taking orders when he he saw _him_ and time slowed down as he watched him approach the entrance and not to be dramatic but he really felt his breath hitch in his throat when they locked eyes for a second.

His neck and face flushed instantly and quickly averted his gaze, cursing himself for being caught.

It seemed as if he looked better today or it was just Ten starting to like him more. Maybe both. Sadly, neither today could he muster up the courage to talk to him, about something, anything. Maybe about how much he enjoyed his waffles or anything.

Perhaps next time.

And there was.

Taeyong came tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and the day after that _and_ the day after that.

Needless to say, he was ecstatic and had one more reason to look forward to his job and Taeyong one more reason to look forward to everyday.

Two weeks had passed when Ten finally spoke to him.

"I've noticed you come here every day. Y-you must really like this place." the waiter stuttered.

Taeyong was stunned at the sudden initiation of a conversation and almost choked on chocolate ice cream cake.

"Oh," he swallowed "I, uh, I do. I think this might be my favorite place." he mumbled in a quiet voice, he was at a loss of words.

His voice wasn't very deep, not as deep as he imagined but it contradicted his sharp looks. It was soft and mellow, the kind of voice someone would listen to all day long and not get tired of it.

"My name's Ten by the way." he continued after a short moment of silence. "It's a nickname." the boy quickly added with a slight laugh after noticing the dumbfounded expression on the customer's face.

"Ah," Taeyong nodded in understanding not questioning any further. "I'm Taeyong." he smiled.

They both smiled, they were one less step away from being complete strangers.

* * *

 

 "Oh my God, Johnny, he's just so..." Ten paused as he tried to find the perfect words to describe Taeyong "he's unreal, it's as if he's not human at all; _that_ perfect."

"You only know his name and you already sound like you're in love."

"I'm not in love... yet."

"Yes you are, you're just in denial." Johnny said in a sing song voice.

"Shut the fuck up." Ten said defeated and chucked a cushion at Johnny who burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, Taeyong was quite lonely in his apartment.

Ever since his new life as a grim reaper started, he tried to shy away from human affection as much as possible. Of course, he had befriended people before, but in most cases when they found out about his nature they abandoned him.

However, Taeyong never once blamed them. Had he been in their place he would've been scared too. He still maintained friendships with other fellow reapers, though.

Being in a romantic relationship was off the list, it was like being friends with someone but everything is amplified, especially being hurt. So, yeah, that was a definite no for him.

His mind had other intentions though, always thinking about the boy with the unique name.

* * *

 

 Someone would think that attending a university that based on arts would be a total waste of time.

But Ten thought otherwise, if dancing made him happy then he would do it, he would pursue his dream and become truly good at what he loves. He thought that if someone loved something so much that he would find possible ways to make a living out of it.

Music and the footsteps of students could be heard as they were going over the routine their dance instructor had showed them.

It may not be that obvious but Ten could become quite competitive and would always challenge himself and try to be the best he could be. Thus, making him one of the best in his class.

Another forty minutes passed of non stop dancing till the class came to an end and Ten rushed to the showers to get cleaned up.

"Ah man, I'm so tired. At times like these I wish I still majored in psychology." Johnny whined.

"You and I both know you don't want that." Ten laughed and patted Johnny on the shoulder.

They both stepped out into the large college campus and made their way to the parking lot and got into Johnny's car.

"Wanna eat something out? I found out this really cool BBQ place I wanna try." Johnny said giving Ten puppy dog eyes.

"Deal." the younger boy agreed immediately without second thought and they drove off.

Thirty minutes later, they were seated at the BBQ restaurant, waiting to gobble on their food. Ten was thankful their food hadn't arrived yet because if he was eating he would be choking right now and all that because he saw Taeyong with a group of people walk in.

"Oh my _fucking_. Johnny," Ten said as his eyes followed the group that sat at a table behind them, Taeyong facing Ten's table. "Taeyong is here." he whisper shouted frantically trying to hide his face with the sleeves of his hoodie.

"The customer?"

"Yes, he's behind you. Don't loo-"

Sadly, Johnny was already staring at Taeyong who of course noticed.

"Why are you being so obvious?" Ten yelled into his hands, exasperated at his friend's actions. "I want to go sit in a corner and cry."

"Tsk, stop being so dramatic." the tall boy said and started grilling their meat that had just arrived. "Here, have some pork belly, it'll make you feel better."

Ten looked up from his hands and his eyes locked with Taeyong's and smiled involuntarily; he was thankful that the lighting was low and that Taeyong was a few tables away and couldn't see his blush.

"I can't believe you're so whipped already." Johnny laughed at his friend, but Ten didn't care at that moment.

His attention was solely set on Taeyong whom he made eye contact with the whole time. Neither of them made an attempt to get up and talk, not knowing what to say, so they sat staring at each other. It still felt as if they were talking though, as if they didn't need words to communicate, just a single glance being enough for them.

* * *

 

 Taeyong was sprawled out in the middle of his bed, his mind racing with thoughts of Ten. Part of him felt guilty though.

He had sworn to himself that he would never fall in love with someone after Jaehyun; he was his first and last love.

All these years no one had been up to par with him. Well, that was until now. There was something about Ten that drew him in.

There were still some lingering feelings for Jaehyun, though. He just couldn't seem to get over him.

Taeyong groaned in frustration and kicked the mattress repeatedly. He was torn, he didn't know what to do. He wasn't ready to give up on Jaehyun even after all these years. He closed his eyes and tried to shove the thoughts of Jaehyun in the very back of his mind and sleep. 

* * *

 

  _The leaves crunched underneath Taeyong's rubber shoes as he jumped off his horse_ _. He caressed it softly and tied it securely on a tree._

_He walked a little and sat on a big rock, close the edge of the cliff. He sighed happily and leaned back, resting his hands on his sides behind him._

_Closing his eyes, he let the sound of the waterfall and the river flowing relax his nerves. It was only times like these Taeyong could be really happy, free of people always following him around, free off people wanting to hurt him. But that was the life he had to live; those were the perks of being king._

_Despite all that, he had managed to get used to it. Growing up with no father meant that he took the throne at a young age, he was forced to grow up quickly. That's the only thing he was envious of other kids when growing up, they seemed so carefree to him._

_He leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and started fiddling with the sleeves of his silk gown. A couple of minutes passed as he waited patiently for him._

_His ears perked up at the distant sound of a horse galloping then slowing down._

_It's him, he thought and he quickly got up and made his way over to Jaehyun who was now getting off his horse._

_"You are late." Taeyong pointed out with a smile. The younger boy shook his head at him, giving him a soft smile that showed off his dimples._

_"I came to you as soon as I finished my training session." he said, and took the older boy in his string embrace, closing any distance between them._

_Taeyong wrapped his arms around Jaehyun's waist and relaxed in his warm hug. He pulled his head back to take a look at the younger boy's face. A small smile graced his rosy lips but it didn't reach his eyes._

_"What's wrong?" Taeyong asked, his voice laced with concern._

_Upon hearing the question, Jaehyun stiffened and untangled his arms from Taeyong's waist._

_"I," he paused, his gaze falling down, his brown boots suddenly being the most interesting thing in the world. "I heard about Her Majesty." he said, his tone solemn._

_"Congratulations." he said, his lips in a tight line._

_Taeyong felt guilty, he knew how much the news of the Queen's pregnancy had hurt Jaehyun._

_"I'm really sorry, Jaehyun." Taeyong apologized, and he meant it, but he had do._

_Everyone in the palace knew that Taeyong had no feelings for the Queen and some had suspected that he wasn't interested in women and had a secret affair with the young soldier protecting the King. But these rumors never spread out of the palace grounds._

_"I understand," Jaehyun said, softly squeezing Taeyong's soft hands in his calloused ones. "I don't hate you for it."_

_"Can we please not talk about that? Let's focus on us." Taeyong said softly, cupping the younger's cheek, his thumb softly tracing his face._

_Taeyong pushed a stray strand of hair that fell on his face away, having got loose from the tight bun Jaehyun always kept his hair in. With his hand, he brought his face closer to his and softly placed his lips on his, in a sweet loving kiss._

_Jaehyun instantly cupped both sides of the older boy's face and passionately kissed him back, his lips moving perfectly against his. Kissing each other came natural to them, it wasn't forced or anything and held a deep emotion that neither of them could describe with words._

_Taeyong's tongue entered Jaehyun's mouth and gently grazed his, earning a low sound of pleasure from the younger boy._

_Sadly, they had to pull apart to breathe and rested their foreheads against each other. They spent more time like this, enjoying the minimum time they could spend together alone, without the curious eyes of other people._

_After a while they returned to the palace and made an appointment to meet at the same place again tonight, once not deemed enough._

_They stopped in front of the King's quarters, stalling their departure for just a little longer._

_"Do you really have to go?" Taeyong whined, jabbing Jaehyun's shoulder lightly_ _._

_"Yes, now stop whining." he said flashing him a smile._

_"You shouldn't leave, your job is to protect me, not leave me. What if someone tried to kill me?" Taeyong rambled._

_Jaehyun was about to open his mouth to speak again when he noticed something or rather someone behind the wall, clad in all black clothing, their face hidden behind a black mask._

_Taeyong's back was facing the wall so he didn't notice anything, his focus mainly on the boy in front of him._

_The masked man then took a bow and pointed an arrow at Taeyong. There were many assassins after the young King, his head came with a very high price._

_Jaehyun gulped and watched as the assassin was ready to shoot, all color draining from his face._

_"You should go inside now." he said, his voice taut._

_"Why? No I'm n-"_

_"Watch out!" he yelled and acted quickly, roughly pushing Taeyong aside as the arrow flew towards them._

_It all happened too quickly, the piercing edge of the arrow lodging itself at the crook of his neck, blood spewing out. Jaehyun clutched the wooden arrow and lost his balance due to the immense pain falling to his knees._

_The blood was flowing freely from the wound, the thick liquid seeping through the deep blue satin gown._

_"Jaehyun!" Taeyong screamed, scrambling to his feet and made his way to him, his shaking arms pulling him against his chest._

_"No, no, no." he kept mumbling, as he clutched Jaehyun's body against his. The young soldier coughed loudly, blood splattering all over Taeyong's gown._

_"Please don't die. I'm gonna call the physician, I'm gonna save you, okay? Just hold on a little longer, please." he cried, hot tears streaming down his cheeks, dripping on Jaehyun's face. He spoke reassuring words to the boy in his arms but quite frankly it seemed more as if he was trying to reassure himself._

_"Sh-" Jaehyun, paused and coughed, blood dripping down his chin. "Stop, it's useless." he gasped out and winced in pain, fighting to keep his eyes from fluttering shut._

_"No, no," Taeyong shook his head upon hearing those words, shaky fingers caressing the younger boy's hair._

_"I'm not going to let you die."_

_Jaehyun only shook his head and weakly clutched his gown._

_"It's okay, that's my job anyway. To protect you." he smiled weakly, teeth stained red. "I just want you to know that," he weakly reached out to stroke his cheek. "I love you, always remember that, okay?" he reassured the other boy._

_The grip on his other hand began to loosen, hardly being to able to keep his eyes open now. The hand that was once stroking his cheek falling limp._

_"Please don't leave me," Taeyong choked out a sob, tightly hugging the younger boy. "not now that I need you the most." he wailed._

_He looked down at Jaehyun; lifeless, unmoving. "I love you too." he mumbled softly, staring down at his peaceful body._

_His eyes screwed shut, letting out another pained sob._

_Jaehyun was his happy place, his sun, but now the world seemed to be even darker and more evil now that he was gone._

* * *

 

_Three weeks had passed since Jaehyun's passing and Taeyong was a mess._

_He hadn't been eating properly nor getting enough sleep because he always stayed up all night crying himself to sleep. Nothing could fill up the void in his chest._

_Everyday, he would go to the cliff they would always meet and he would always cry remembering that Jaehyun would never meet there ever again. He would never be there to hold him in his loving embrace, kiss him gently and tell him that everything would always be okay as long as he was by his side._

_But now Jaehyun was gone and he was never coming back and Taeyong was very far from okay._

_Taeyong cried for what felt the thousandth time this day. He sat down on the soft blanket that was laid down for him to sleep on._

_Many thoughts had crossed Taeyong's mind, but the most frequent one was that particular one._

_Quickly wiping his tears way with the sleeves of his sleeping clothes, he lifted the small pillow, revealing a small but sharp silver dagger._

_He always kept it there, just in case he finally made up his mind. Tonight was the night._

_He wiped his nose with the back of his wrist, wrapping his shaky fingers against the cold metal. He felt more nervous than he expected; he thought he would get it over with quickly, but it seemed it was not that easy._

_He took a sharp breathe, his breathing ragged. He could feel the sharp tip of the dagger through the fabric of his clothes. His eyes were clouded by his tears that had welled up._

_It was now or never, he thought and a strained sob came out of his lips._

_He clutched the dagger with both of his hands now, fingers tight around the base. He pushed the dagger with all his force, the sharp blade piercing all the way in through his abdomen._ _For a moment, the pain felt sweet and somewhat relieving. The physical pain made him forget about all the emotional pain he was in these past weeks. But that feeling didn't last for much longer._

_He fell to his side, not strong enough to hold himself up and clutched his stomach that was now stained in red. He really felt like crying and screaming, but  was unable to. Taeyong was breathing hard through his nose and stared quietly at the doors in front of him._

_His death was dragged and slow, blood slowly pooling around him. It was after a few minutes he started feeling dizzy, his vision starting to blur. Taeyong smiled sadly, everything was finally coming to an end. He closed his eyes and laid there until he wasn't able to open them anymore._

_Taeyong was finally free._

* * *

 

Taeyong rose from his turbulent sleep, drenched in cold sweat.

He hadn't dreamt that certain memory in a while now. He often was tormented in his sleep because of that.

At times like these he wished he didn't remember anything, wishing he lived his immortal life in oblivion.

The sun was already set up high indicating that it was already morning. He got up in a sitting position, with his legs dangling off the side of the bed. He stood up and sluggishly made his way to the bathroom to get ready for today.

Taeyong had a lot of work for today but before he started off he needed a nice cup of coffee.

Not having time to cook breakfast he opted to get something on the way. He quickly put on his suit and grabbed his keys and got out, locking the door behind him.

After walking around for about forty minutes he made it to his favorite coffee shop. Well, it was his favorite until he discovered the one Ten was working in.

He pushed the door and got inside the busy cafe, already busy with people getting a cup of coffee on their way to work. As he made his way to the line, a certain hooded head stood out to him, straight black fringe falling against the boy's forehead.

Ten.

He stood there patiently, his head sleepily leaning on one side.

 _Cute_ , Taeyong thought and tried to hold back from squishing the soft looking boy.

He reached the line and stood behind him, even his back looked beautiful, his shoulders slouching slightly, a black backpack resting against his left one.

Taeyong lightly tapped his shoulder getting his attention. Ten quickly turned back, the confused expression on his face instantly going away once he saw Taeyong. Any trace of tiredness, replaced by a bright smile that made the ends of his eyes crinkle and his eyes formed tiny crescents.

"This is the second time we meet randomly." Ten pointed out happily.

"Indeed." the reaper agreed.

 _And I hope they're many more to come_ , he added internally.

Ten was about to speak but he was called over by the cashier, not having realized that the line had moved already.

"Ah, I have to order." he said, apologetically and moved forward.

Truth be told, Taeyong was glad he got called over because he still felt a little awkward talking to someone he started developing feelings for. Maybe next time they met he wouldn't waste his chances.

Hours flew by and it was already 8 p.m.

"It's your turn for grocery shopping." Johnny informed his friend and threw his car keys at him.

"Ugh," the smaller boy groaned putting the keys in his pocked and shoved his dirty clothes in his backpack. "I had forgotten."

"Well, I didn't. Here's the list." Johnny said and shoved a piece of paper towards his friend and bid him goodbye.

After a short drive he got to a supermarket close to his university and parked the car.

Once he made sure it was locked he grabbed a shopping cart and began his grocery shopping. Ten was looking through the shelves, trying to desperately find the Sriracha sauce. _Where the fuck was the Sriracha sauce?_

He sighed as he got into another aisle, checking once again when he bumped into a familiar mop of hair. He squinted his eyes, deep in thought.

At this point, Ten really thought them randomly meeting for the second time this day seemed to be more than just a coincidence.

"I really don't think this is just pure coincidence." Ten mused, grabbing Taeyong's attention, who was surprised to say the least.

"I-I, uh..." he stuttered, holding a bottle of _Sriracha sauce_.

"It's really not what it looks like." he said quickly, shaking his hands.

"Are you sure?" Ten asked in a suspicious yet teasing tone. "Because I really think that you're stalking me."

"Oh God, no!" Taeyong protested his face flushed a deep red. It really did seem like it, but it was purely coincidental.

"We really have to stop meeting like this then." Ten stated.

 _But I love meeting you like this_ , Taeyong thought as he clutched at the bottle.

"So how about we meet properly next time? On a date." Ten offered seemingly confident, but truthfully he was dying from anxiousness on the inside.

Taeyong was rendered speechless, not expecting such question from him, but at the same time glad because if Ten hadn't done it, Taeyong would never have the guts to ask him out on a date himself.

"I'd loved to." he accepted meekly, staring down at the bottle on his hands.

"Hey, that's Sriracha sauce!" Ten exclaimed enthusiastically and got next to Taeyong's cart and grabbing one for himself.

Ten's body was so close when he reached out to the shelf, smelling of lavender shampoo, his slightly damp probably from taking a shower before coming here, the reaper thought. The proximity of their bodies made Taeyong's undead heart beat fast as if he was on a rollercoaster ride.

Once Ten added the sauce to his cart, he turned to look at the boy standing in front of him. "Is Saturday good with you?" he asked, expectant.

"Y-yeah."

"Great," Ten smiled, showing off his brilliant teeth. "so I'm gonna a give you my number and you're gonna give me yours and I'll text you the details." he continued and pulled out his phone, ready to type the new contact in.

Taeyong robotically told him his number and typed Ten's in his phone; he was in a trance, Ten's captivating beauty clouded his mind.

"Perfect, I'm looking forward to it." he smiled sweetly and waved at him as he pushed his cart down the aisle, leaving him there, dumbfounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to keep this sad and angsty but i love humor and this the first time i tried angst i'm s orry, but hey their relationship is finally progressing


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